scudwuzzle wrote:They are the same exact thing with "happiness" swapped out for "intelligence." They are the same exact comic.

Hmm.. Lets try to see the similarities/differences.

Characters: Zach's comic features a swamp monster and a red-headed female. The Jeremy Kaye comic features 2 friends, neither of which have red hair and neither of which are swamp monsters.

Joke: Zach's comic makes a joke about how people think they want intelligence, but they would really perfer happiness. The Jeremy Kaye comic makes a joke about how, if someone was smart, they would study in advance of their tests.

Plot Tools: Jeremy Kaye's comic features a cloack that gives you smarts. Zach's comic features a pill that gives you smarts, but

Bottom line: Both comics feature things that give intelligence (this is the only main similarity), but have different payoffs/jokes and different ways of utilizing those in the comic. If you think it is a ripoff to use a tool that gives knowledge, I suggest you blame Jeremy Kaye for stealing from Flowers for Algernon.

noone wrote:
Plot Tools: Jeremy Kaye's comic features a cloack that gives you smarts. Zach's comic features a pill that gives you smarts, but

I was gonna add that Zach's comic displays a binary choice and also introudces a pill of happiness, which makes it more of a matrix clone than anything related to Kaye's comic. Sould've paid more attention before hitting submit.

The reason these jokes are related, without getting heavy-handed over preference for either comic, does not lie in the character design, the visual aesthetic. It's not about the look.
You guys are missing the big "picture". (pun not intended)

What's related is that both comics seem to share a similar framework in the joke:
the irony of something that someone didn't choose, in an Option A/Option B scenario,
would have gotten the person where they wanted to be in the first place.

In Jeremy's comic:
The guy was faced with the choice of:
A) Studying for a test, or
B) relying on a cloak of wisdom to help him.

In Zach's comic:
The girl could've:
A) Had all-knowing wisdom, or
B) Happiness.

In both cases, the choice made did not produce a result as satisfying as one from picking the other option.
The girl should've gone with what gave her happiness, instead of trying to be "smart" and get happiness in a go-around way.
The guy should've gone with simply studying, instead of trying to be "smart" and gain wisdom from some high-falutin magic cloak that would "give all the answers".

They're similar indeed. Maybe not a blatant ripoff, but I would say a synchronicity.

The instant Jeremy Kaye starts getting some play on reddit Zach comes out with a clone of his greatest hit

>really? can you provide evidence of more than one case of similarity, with a consistent case of Jeremy's comics always coming first?

...also, this is not a compliment, but still an analysis:
There seems to be a bit more moral value in Jeremy's comic.
(This is just what I derived:) ...it seems to say that instead of relying on fancy tools or devices to reach something cheap-and-easy, the better choice is to just work hard to achieve a goal. (A good grade on a test).
The device of the "cloak of wisdom" seems to indicate that trying to take a shortcut in a pursuit, such as wisdom, can't live up to one's tenacious pursuit of it.
...The Tortoise & the Hare, if you will.

In Zach's comic, the message I see is a different dilemma:Wisdom vs. Happiness.
By thinking she was wise, and sticking with only wisdom "...now I'll know how to be happy!"
...she lost the green pill, which represented happiness.She "lost" happiness, by favoring only wisdom.

...perhaps, in life, there are times when it's better to be happy than to know everything.
Seeking only knowledge can sometimes be a pursuit that wears one out.
A lack of information, though not necessarily "ignorance", can be bliss.

...overall, both comics discuss philosophical stuff. I think both scenarios are good in their own right.

and you shouldn't blindly assume it was stolen or not; no matter which comic you favor. Pointing fingers without really knowing...
...just isn't Wise. Maybe you should just be Happy and not care that you'll never really know

Yea, no. The two ideas are similar, but neither is original. They both stole the idea from someone who stole the idea from someone else who stole the idea from another person who meant to write something else, but ran out of time.